The Spider Is Down
by SuperSophB
Summary: Natasha is injured when on an assignment and is now unable to talk and do many other things. The rest of the avengers now help her get back to being the Black Widow
1. Not Another Day In The Office

The Spider Is Down

Natasha is injured when on an assignment and is now unable to talk and do many other things. The rest of the avengers now help her get back to being the Black Widow 

Chapter 1: Not another Day in the Office

It started out as an ordinary day. Well if you call saving the world an ordinary day. The avengers were fighting a lab experiment gone wrong. A young man had mixed the wrong chemicals to create a potion that had him end up as a mutant. This thing was fast. Steve tried attacking with his shield but he was basically useless. Thor was on Asgard and Clint was on his vacation so being a few Avengers down was difficult but they still had Hulk. Unfortunately Hulks tactics were to 'Smash' and it wasn't helping one bit... so Tony decided he needed distract the mutant while Natasha went in for the final take down. He tried to get the attention of the mutant but it wasn't working. Good thing Tony had rockets installed into his suit. As soon as that missile hit the mutant's back his full attention was on Tony. The time was ready. "Now!" Said Tony, Natasha jumped to stab him with a tranquilizer dart. The mutant, he was quick and punched her, right in the stomach. Natasha's body was flung onto a wall bricks smashed as she hit the wall. Her head was bleeding, and not just a little bit. "Natasha!" Said Tony who thankfully put a tranquilizer dart into the mutant. That was one problem sorted…The blood was thick and it was everywhere, they needed to get her out quick. Tony knew what to do immediately "You're going to be okay Natasha!" Tony picked up her up and Natasha saw Steve running towards her with Bruce who had just de-Hulked. That was the last thing she saw before she blacked out...

Natasha was took to Stark Tower's personal hospital ward which had all the supplies needed and more to help Natasha. Bruce was a doctor so he was already looking at Natasha's injuries on the way to the hospital. Tony had gone back to the tower ahead to make sure everything was prepare for when she got there. But they didn't even know how severe her damage was yet so Tony wasn't sure what to tell the rest of the doctors. Almost immediately, Pepper knew something was wrong. "What happened?" Pepper said as she put her hand on Tony's shoulder. "It's Natasha. She was injured on our assignment." Pepper was surprised and now very worried. Natasha was one of her friends and she was never injured or even missed a shot! "How bad?" Tony's frown wasn't a good sign. "It's bad" _It was weird_ , Pepper thought to herself. Tony seemed so anxious and angry. He was never angry not at anything. He wasn't even making jokes. If this hit him hard then maybe it was very serious…

The elevator door opened about 15 minutes later with a team of medical specialists already at Natasha's side who was unconscious on a hospital bed, along with Steve and Bruce, who looked exhausted. He was telling the doctors several things at once and Pepper and Tony didn't get the chance to see what was going on as she was quickly took into a room. J.A.R.V.I.S. was showing scans of Natasha's brain and from Bruce's reaction, it didn't look good. Bruce kept focusing on one part of Natasha's brain.

It was hard at first but after a few more scans on Natasha's brain Bruce could conclude what was wrong with Natasha's brain. When she hit the wall the first thing that landed on it was her head. When her head hit the wall it made some serious damage… That was the easy part over, now he had to tell everyone. Before he could tell them, he needed to calm down. Bruce told everyone he needed five minutes to himself and went to his personal floor in Stark tower. They all had one. Well, everyone but Thor. No one really used their floor though. Everyone already had a place to stay, but it was always their If they needed it.

Bruce's heart was pounding. This wasn't just anyone, this was Natasha. His friend, his fellow Avenger. He was obviously upset and was finding it hard to keep his anger under control. The only think that was keeping him calm was thinking of Natasha's health and how horrible it would be with a Hulk sized footprint in the floor. After taking some stress relief pills, Bruce sat down on his bed and just felt like he was going to scream.

Steve out of all the Avengers present, was remaining very calm. Tony caught on to this and wondered why. "Cap? Why are you not freaking out like the rest of us?" Tony said wanting to know the answer. Steve smiled. "In the army, we learned many things about ourselves. One of those things was having to remain calm. Some of my friends were blown up and we couldn't just freak out about it, there was a war going on, we just had to keep going and take care of them. If they were injured we simply helped them without being upset or angry. To this day I still have the same tactic when someone I care about gets hurt" Steve didn't tell anyone the real truth. He was extremely upset. He loved Natasha and she wouldn't love him back. He had to keep his emotions on the inside.

"Wow" Tony said. "Thanks for the sob story Grandma, it was very touching" Tony laughed. Pepper saw what it did to Steve. Tony was always like this it was his way of getting through stressful situations "Tony that was really rude!" Pepper smiled at Steve. "I think staying calm is the best way to get through pain Steve" He smiled back. "It shows you have great self-control"

The elevator door opened and Bruce entered quickly back into the room where Natasha was being held. He quickly looked over the scans of her brain again and was now confident to tell everyone. He walked out slowly and opened his mouth, at first he didn't speak and the he said "Can you all come in here" Bruce gestured everyone towards his office.

When everyone was sat in his office he closed the door and put Natasha's X-rays on the wall. "Natasha is going to be okay." Pepper let out a sigh of relief. "But she's not completely okay…" Tony said knowing that it was too good be true. "Yeah." Bruce frowned.

"So what's wrong?" Pepper was very confused, she wasn't a doctor, but was it simple logic? Should she know what's going on?

"When she hit the wall it hit a certain side of her brain. It has damaged her Temporal Lobe and part of her Frontal Lobe."

"What does this mean though?" Steve began to become aggressive even after his statement from earlier.

"She won't be able to talk and possibly not walk. She will find it very hard to communicate with the rest of us as the Temporal Lobe controls how you understand things people say and how you talk."

Pepper began to cry. "Oh my god" Tony took Pepper into his arms almost at the point of crying himself. Steve hit the wall with his hands.

"What about the Avengers?" Tony asked.

"She won't be Black Widow for a while. The best thing you can do is be there for her. All of us…"


	2. The Communication Problem

Chapter 2: The Communication Problem

It was 3:34AM Steve looked at Natasha asleep, so calm. So defenceless. When was she going to wake up? Everything was so quiet. Tony had took Pepper upstairs to go to bed, she was not handling this situation very well. She and Natasha were rather close considering there wasn't many other women around. Tony didn't look very upset but he was. Natasha was like the little sister he never had and when he saw she was hurt it made him feel protective and wanting to make everything better.

Fury was on his way up to see how bad the damage was, and by the conversation him and Bruce had on the phone he was not happy at all. Natasha was his best agent!

Fury burst through the door "Where is she?" Bruce stood up and put his glasses back on. Fury looked around spotting her asleep in a hospital bed. "She's stable." Bruce had already informed Fury of Natasha's damaged to her brain, he just wanted arrangements to be made. Natasha couldn't stay in this hospital bed when she woke up. She needed a specialist to help her get back to her normal self. "I can't stay for long so I will make this quick." Fury sat down next to Natasha. "Natasha is important to all of you, I can tell. She needs the best care possible and when you're all off saving the world she can't just be left to anyone."

"We will provide the best care possible for her Fury. Bruce already has people on the phone." Steve was confident Bruce would sort this out.

"That's not what I mean. Who and where is she going to stay? It can't just be anyone?" As Fury spoke the door opened. It was Pepper, dressed in different clothes to before. "She will stay with me"

"Stay with you?" by the tone of his voice Pepper could tell Fury was not happy.

"I think it's perfect" Said Steve smiling at Pepper. Bruce nodded as liking the idea.

"I know Natasha inside out, and besides Maria who's never here I'm the only woman who can look after her."

"I see your point…"

"I can afford to take the time off and Tony can get anything necessary. I want to help her be Natasha again. I can be her teacher" Pepper smiled, even though she was worried about how Natasha was going to be like when she wakes up, she was also curious to learn what she could teach Natasha.

"Did you speak to Tony about this?" Bruce asked, he was only curious…

"He's completely supportive of this decision. When we both went upstairs we weren't sleeping. We were talking, discussing how we can help Natasha. This was the conclusion we came to."

"Pepper I believe you will really help Natasha. Do what you need to do" And with that sorted, Fury left five minutes later.

7:56AM

Natasha's eyes opened. _Where was she?_ She saw Steve asleep in the arm chair next to her. Bruce walked in not noticing that Natasha was awake. He looked tired. Natasha's eyes followed Bruce's. Bruce looked over, at first just thinking Natasha was asleep. His eyes then went wide. "Guy's! Wake up! She's awake!" Bruce said loudly but not too loud to startle Natasha. Everyone smiled at her and Natasha went to say something…No words. _Where had the words gone?_ This made Natasha feel upset. Tears began to come out of her eyes. She tried once more and nothing… "No Natasha calm down!" Natasha didn't understand. When the words came out of Bruce's month it was like it was a bunch of jumbled letters. The only thing she understood and heard properly was 'Natasha' All of the words in her head. All the people speaking, she couldn't take it. Natasha put her hands over her ears and began to shake her head. She was heavily crying now.

"Why doesn't she like us talking?" Steve asked. Watching the beautiful redhead cry was making him want to fix her instantly.

"She can't understand us." Bruce put his hand on Natasha's shoulder. She felt scared. She didn't like Bruce or Steve. They were both tall and scary. She screamed loudly still shaking her head. "What did I do?" Bruce asked knowing the answer to his own question.

"She's afraid of us all" Pepper stood up and began to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Tony was confused, Natasha had just woken up. Why would she want to leave?

"We need to communicate with her one person at a time. And because Bruce is the doctor, he can go first" Everyone else left the room. Natasha had stopped screaming but still had her hands over her ears.

"Natasha?" She looked down not wanting to look at him. "Tasha? Look at me" She looked up. "It's going to be okay" Bruce stood up. She instantly started crying again not wanting to see him.

Steve had tried to talk to her next but as he entered the room, he got the same reaction. Tony not so much only a little whimper. Pepper was the only one left and she was so scared. She didn't want Natasha to scream in her face.

Pepper entered the room quietly, Natasha was looking around the room as if she was in her own little world. She quietly sat herself next to Tasha who seemed alarmed by Peppers entrance. "Hi Tasha." Pepper took her hand. "I can't believe what has happened to you. It is a tragedy. You and all of the Avengers are my family. I'm going to make you better. We all are. You're the strongest person I know" Natasha looked at Pepper with no expression on her face. She then began to smile and then laugh. Pepper hadn't heard Natasha laugh like this before, or laugh ever… She put her arms around Pepper and gave her a big hug. Pepper smiled. Natasha knew Pepper, she was a nice person.


	3. Remember me?

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

Chapter 3: Remember me?

After a long couple of days filled with screaming, Bruce and Steve were finally able to walk in a room without Natasha freaking out. Once she was comfortable with everyone Tony thought it would be a good idea to get her out of her hospital room and into her own room on the top floor of Stark Tower. Tony and Pepper would be just down the hall.

"Tasha you ready to go to your own room?" Natasha smiled even though she didn't know what Pepper was really on about.

They got her onto the wheelchair and then made their way upstairs. Natasha didn't seem to like the elevator very much…

Once up there they entered a room that was pretty boring. Only a few things were in the room that belonged to Natasha. Just some of her clothes... Pepper really wanted to do the room up but she didn't really know what Natasha was into. No one really knew much about her, she was very reserved and only discussed work or on a rare occasion when she was either drinking or tired would she talk about her childhood. Everyone wondered what the red room was like. But that was a different chapter of her life that everyone didn't go into because of the trauma she went through there.

Tony was downstairs making something. He always worked passionately, but not like this. This, was going to help Natasha get better and maybe even other people who have had an accident similar. Pepper took Natasha down to see what Tony was doing and she loved it. She loved just watching what he was doing. All the nuts and bolts somehow calmed Natasha's brain. Pepper looked at his boyfriend. He really was deeply hurt at what had happened. He didn't show it much but he was a very emotional person. That's why he's so protective, he doesn't have very much family to take care of, and so he made his own. Out of all of the Avengers, he was most protective of Natasha. Maybe it was because she was a girl or that she only had her skills and a gun, unlike Tony who had his iron man suit.

Pepper's phone rang, it was Fury… "Pepper we found something in Natasha's possessions from when she had her accident. Get down here right away" Immediately Pepper made her way to Fury's office, knowing Natasha would be in safe hands with Tony at her side.

When Pepper got down there she thought there had been a mix up. She was presented with a key.

"A key?" Fury placed it in Pepper's hand. She still looked puzzled.

"It's the key to Natasha's apartment" Pepper was surprised. She was not expecting that. No one had ever been in Natasha's apartment. Everyone always went to Stark tower if they all had dinner. Natasha's place was off limits and Pepper didn't even know where it was.

"We have the location. It's on the West-Side of New York"

"That's on the other side of the city though! How am I going to get there quickly? I was hoping to do nothing today…"

"It's only the morning, shouldn't take too long to get there. Get anything you need for Natasha from her apartment that you think will make her more comfortable at the tower" Pepper sighed. She was planning to relax while watching a film with Natasha…

Natasha's apartment wasn't that hard to find once Pepper was in the neighbourhood she found it was very friendly. She got a hello from an old man and a woman with a baby. It was weird that Natasha chose a very family friendly neighbourhood to live. But to be honest, maybe she needed the quiet. When she wasn't on a mission she was always at home. Even though no one knew where 'home' was for Natasha. Pepper unlocked the door and entered. The hallway was a dark green, not really Natasha's colour… It was very cosy. Pepper first went to Natasha's bedroom. She entered to an organised room with everything neatly aligned. The bed had a flowery pattern on it and the curtains were dark blue. Pepper paid attention to the detail of the rooms, she may not get another opportunity to be here again…

Opening the wardrobe Natasha had a variety of clothes and Pepper took out the best ones, even a pair of dungarees that looked comfy. She noticed on the right hand side of the wardrobe was a folded picture. Pepper unfolded the picture. It revealed a young Natasha in the snow in Russia, the picture was in black and white. Pepper put it back realising Natasha probably wouldn't want to be reminded of her past in her condition…

Pepper smiled at the various pictures on the wall. Most of them were from nights out they all had together. Pepper put a few in her bag. She then went to the bathroom picking up Natasha's toothbrush and various other cosmetics.

Proceeding to the kitchen Pepper kept hearing a noise. At first she didn't think anything of it, but it kept getting louder. Pepper nearly fell over when something brushed up against her leg. It was a cat. A completely snow white cat. Pepper bent down smiling stroking the cat. She looked at the tag, it said 'Cloud' on it. Obviously referring to the cat's soft white fur. The cat looked hungry. Natasha hadn't been home since her accident and the cat had run out of food on his automatic time feeder thing.

Pepper made the decision to take the cat with her. If anything was going to make Natasha feel at home, it was her cat. She found a cat carrier in Natasha's closet and Cloud seemed to be a very laid back cat so there wasn't a problem getting him into the carrier.

When Pepper left it was 5:28PM she couldn't wait just to get in bed and go to sleep. She began to nod off in the ride back home with Cloud asleep in the cat carrier next to her.


	4. Getting Back To Reality

**Sorry for my lack of updates! I've been really busy the last three weeks! But now i'm hopefully bring you guys a few more chapters!**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Getting Back To Reality

Clint walked into S.H.I.E.L.D ready to get back to work. He was away for 3 weeks, but a vacation is never a vacation to Hawkeye. He was always on watch for an enemy. He didn't like to admit it but his Job was more like his hobby. It gave him such a rush saving people. When Clint was putting his stuff in his locker when Fury sat on the bench behind him "Got something to tell you" Clint turned around knowing it wasn't going to be good news.

"Just tell me. No point sugar coating it." Clint looked Fury right in the eyes...or eye in Fury's case. He looked scared. Well as scared as Nick Fury could get. "It's Agent Romanoff" Clint slammed his locker and went straight for medical. Fury followed behind him.

"Where is she?" Clint looked furious.

"She's not herself Clint." Clint stopped and turned around.

"What do you mean? A broken arm? Leg?"

"She's suffered brain damage. She can't walk or talk. Currently she's with Tony and Pepper. They're looking after her"

Clint then proceeded to go back to his locker. He opened it grabbing his keys, then leaving quickly. Forgetting to close the locker. "I need to see her. Now."

Picking up the cat was a good idea. Cloud seemed very relaxed around everyone. Especially Tony, he hated cats though. He had told Pepper this was a bad idea saying "It could wreck my $10,000 couch" Pepper ignored him. Tony tried to take the cat outside but Natasha would get upset when the cat was gone for two seconds.

Even though Tasha had been staying with them for a couple of days now, Tony kind of felt creeped out. If normal Natasha could see what Pepper had to help her with, she would hit Tony in the face. She needed help with basically everything. Getting around places, but she did have her wheelchair, getting into the bathroom. She needs full time care and Tony was glad Pepper was so dedicated to helping. As was Tony but he didn't really want to help her take a shower...

She was a child now. Seeing Natasha and Pepper's relationship grow every day, Tasha seemed to be more and more attached to Pepper. She wouldn't go anywhere without her.

"Tony?" Tony came back to reality hearing Peppers voice.

"Yeah, what?" Pepper just laughed.

"Stuck in your own little world again?"

Tony sighed "So it seems." Pepper put her hand on his leg.

"Can you get me a glass of water from the kitchen please?"

Tony got the water for Pepper and she proceeded to give it Tasha, who picked it up with an unsteady hand. Pepper steadied her hand for her smiling at Tasha and nodding. Natasha smiled back. But Natasha wanted to do this on her own. She may not be able to communicate with the rest of them but she wasn't stupid. It was humiliating! Pepper had to help her get changed and she couldn't do anything about it as she needed the help! Her mind was telling her to talk, but they all came out as nothing, or jumbled letters.

She proceeded to drink the water, with Pepper still helping with the glass. She took the glass from Natasha so she didn't drop it and placed it gently on the table. Natasha sighed noticing she had split some of the water on her jumper. Maybe she really did need help with all of this? Was this going to be her life from now on? Being a burden of Pepper and Tony's lives and never being able to be an independent person again…

The elevator door opened. An angry Clint made his way to where Tony was standing. "How the hell could you let it happen?" Clint shoved Tony into a door.

"Well, hello to you too." Tony couldn't help but be sarcastic, it's what made him feel comfortable in awkward situations.

"Don't play games with me Stark! Where is she?" Clint turned to see Natasha with her hands over her ears hiding behind Pepper on the couch.

"Clint, I understand your upset but-" Clint cut Tony off.

"OF COURSE I'M UPSET! SHE'S MY BEST FRIEND. AND NONE OF YOU THOUGHT TO NOTIFY ME ON WHAT HAPPENED?"

Pepper then interrupted there little fight. "Can you please keep your voice down Natasha doesn't like loud noises or yelling" Clint looked at Natasha, she was in distress.

"Sure, yeah. I can do that…" Clint looked at the ceiling embarrassed by his little outburst of anger.

"Come sit down. I'm sure she'd love to see another familiar face." Pepper smiled at Clint gesturing him towards the couch opposite them.

Clint sat himself down and smiled at Natasha. She was still cowering behind Pepper. "Hey Tasha" Clint said. Natasha ignored Clint's greeting. Pepper turned to look at Natasha.

"Natasha this is Clint, he's your friend. Do you remember?" Natasha looked at Clint, examining everything about him. He didn't seem like a threat and Tasha did remember him.

She looked straight at Clint and for a moment she looked angry. But then, she smiled and started to laugh. "So you do remember me?" She nodded several times. She went to open her mouth to say hello and then she confused herself. Instead she just waved, and she didn't stop waving for about two minutes. She wanted to let him know that she was there and that she knew they were best friends. "I'm glad to see your happy at least" He put his hand on the coffee table between them and she reached out and put her hand on top of his. He squeezed her hand tightly not wanting to let go. Tasha was his oldest friend and he didn't like that she was injured. She was usually so fierce always wanting to protect people, innocent people. And now it seemed she was so innocent herself and that she needed protecting. Clint was going to make sure no one was going to hurt her. Not like this.


	5. Reverting To Older Ways

**Here's another chapter for you all! I hope you enjoy. Please review!**

Chapter 5: Reverting To Older Ways

Tony looked at his clock. It said 5AM why was he up this early, did he have a meeting today? He turned over to see his beautiful girlfriend fast asleep. She looked so peaceful. Her hair was messy and she was in a vest and shorts but she still looked stunning.

He closed his eyes for a second and was nearly asleep again. Tony's eyes flashed open again when he heard a faint crying type noise. He got out of bed knowing that it was coming from Natasha… Opening the door the cry got much louder. He went into Natasha's room quietly. What he saw was Tasha laying on her side sobbing to herself. She must have been finding adjusting to the aftermath of the accident very hard. "Hey Nat?" Tony whispered. Natasha jumped and turned to look at Tony. She had really been crying hard as Tony could see the tears all over her face. He sat next to her on the giant double bed. "You okay?" Natasha just looked at him, not understanding the question. She cried even more and began to bury her face into Tony's neck. He put his arm around her and hugged her tight. "Stay calm. You're safe here, don't worry about anything" She continued to cry and Tony just stayed still, waiting for her to stop.

Comforting her seemed to work as she seemed to calm down and her crying became quiet sniffles. "You alright now?" Natasha nodded. "Okay, I'm going to go back to bed now." Tasha's eyes became wide at that sentence, and when Tony tried to leave she grabbed his arm. She began shaking her head and breathing heavily. "Do you want me to stay?" She nodded. When Tony got back into the bed she lay down and moved up so he could have more room. In the process she didn't once let go of his arm. "Try and go to sleep Nat. I won't go anywhere. I promise" She seemed to understand what he said, as she fell asleep in five minutes. Tony put the covers back onto her as she rested. Soon enough he was asleep again too.

Pepper woke up at 8AM and turned over to see Tony was not lying next to her. She shrugged it off and went and had a shower. Once she was ready she heard snoring coming from Natasha's room. She quietly opened the door to see Tony spread out across the bed with Natasha clinging onto his arm tightly. She smiled closing the door.

Yesterday's events really made Pepper feel bad. She didn't realise how afraid of people Natasha actually was. Pepper wanted to communicate with her but all Natasha wanted to do was play with Cloud, or do whatever Pepper was doing. Pepper decided she needed to take action. What if Tasha was bored and couldn't tell anyone? She needed to give her something to make her feel entertained. At the moment Natasha had Pepper and Tony's full attention, but even though Pepper wasn't working, she still needed to do other things. Tasha could hurt herself on something, or push a button that operates one of Tony's machines. It sounded ridiculous in Pepper's head, a fully grown adult hurting themselves on such simple things, but Natasha mentally wasn't an adult. She remembered people, but not necessarily what she should or shouldn't do. She probably still did have lots of knowledge in her brain but her behaviour is like a child's. Pepper felt more like Natasha's Mother. Which was not a bad thing as Natasha didn't have a motherly figure in her life as a child. She just didn't want Natasha to remember all of this when she went back to normal and start becoming confused in what role Pepper plays in her life. Tasha was still highly intelligent but just didn't know how to express her intelligence with her condition. She may be offended if Pepper gave her children's toys to play with, or cartoons to watch. She couldn't exactly put on inappropriate TV shows for her to watch, as she didn't know what her mental age was at the moment. But how was she going to know if she didn't try. She picked up her phone and started to dial her psychiatrist's number. "Hi, this is Pepper Potts. I know you're usually fully booked for weeks, but is there any chance that I can book an appointment for this afternoon, or any other time today?" Pepper began to bite her nails. "It's really important, it's for my friend. Please…" Pepper started pacing up and down the room, waiting for an answer. A sigh of relief came across her, "So I can bring her around 1PM?" Pepper smiled and sat down on the couch. "That's great, thank you!"

Natasha woke up about 10AM to Tony still snoring by her side. She was hungry and wanted to get out of bed, so she poked Tony's face until he woke up… "Huh?" Tony said sounding half asleep. "Oh morning" Tasha smiled at Tony. Natasha looked eager to get out of bed. "Let me get Pepper so she can help with the wheelchair.

"Morning Tasha" Pepper went up to her and gave her a hug. Natasha didn't want to let go though, keeping her arms firmly wrapped around Pepper. Tony pick up Natasha's legs and Pepper was holding her shoulders, they both successfully put Tasha into the chair.

It was weird, even though Natasha couldn't speak to Pepper or Tony. She observed everything around her. As she was eating her breakfast, she noticed Pepper talking to Tony and they both kept looking at her. She tried to understand their conversation but only caught a few words. She heard the words 'Natasha' or 'Tasha' said multiple times and the word 'Mental'

 _Oh god…_ Tasha though to herself, _they think I'm a mental person._

Pepper went and sat next to the girl who looked distressed once again. "Tasha" Natasha looked at Pepper. "Me and you are going to see someone this afternoon. I'm taking you to a psychiatrist, so he can look at your mental state. Do you understand me?" Natasha thought about the words really hard, she got the part where Pepper said 'Going to talk to someone' so she nodded slowly, looking confused.

At the psychiatrists office Natasha was scared. There were lots of scary looking people she didn't know, so she had her hands wrapped tightly around Peppers arm. This made wheeling her into the psychiatrist's office very hard. She was took into a room that was pretty dull, no colour whatsoever. Usually a psychiatrist would just talk to the patient alone in the room, but Pepper knew Natasha would freak out the second she would be left alone with a stranger and without Pepper by her side. The psychiatrist was a man with dark brown hair and glasses. He was pretty tall and did look intimidating, even to the average person. He smiled at Natasha.

"So" The man said sitting on the chair opposite them. "This is Miss Romanoff" Pepper smiled at him.

"I hope you don't mind me being in the room. In her state she doesn't like to be left alone with people she doesn't know." Pepper's smiled disappeared hoping he would be okay with it.

"Absolutely fine. So, I've been informed of her accident and what are you concerned about Miss Potts?"

Pepper sighed. "Well, she seems very disconnected to the rest of the world. She doesn't like being left on her own, and I feel she may be bored."

"And why do you think she's bored?"

"She did suffer some brain damage from her accident, which of course you are fully aware of but-" Pepper thought about what to say. "Is it possible that she may have regressed, her behaviour is so weird sometimes, and I just feel like I'm taking care of a child?"

"It's completely normal for her to be disconnected from the rest of the world. She's probably just lonely. I would have to do further assessment on her to see if she has definitely regressed but to be honest, Miss Romanoff is probably embarrassed, being as independent as she was it's probably difficult to then see someone have to help her get in and out of bed or take a shower."

Pepper nodded agreeing completely with what he was saying. "What should I do?" Natasha was completely oblivious to the conversation, she was playing with her fingers.

The psychiatrist took his glasses off. "The first thing I advise is to give her things to play with. Not necessarily children's toys, but something she can fiddle with. Maybe give her a piece of paper and a pencil and see what she can draw." Pepper made a note on her phone for the next time she went shopping to pick up a sketch book. "The second thing I feel, is that she's probably desperate to get out of that wheel chair, I suggest some physio therapy helping her to learn to walk again. We always have a specialist in our gym and things that could help her build her muscles up. I can book you an appointment when we finish."

"And what about her communication, what about her talking?"

"One step at a time Miss Potts, this is going to be a long process"

Pepper smiled. "Thank you so much for helping. I can see you're dedicated to your job." He smiled back.

"It's what I'm here to do. Now because this is our first session, I feel that's it for today. I want you to come back in a week, and I want to ask her some questions myself. Is that okay Miss Potts?" Pepper nodded.

"Yes, that's fine Mr?-"

"Mr Doyle" He smiled opening the door. "See you in a week's time."


	6. The Way She Sees Things

**New chapter for you all! Enjoy and remember to review!**

Chapter 6: The Way She Sees Things

Pepper wasn't really sure what to expect from Natasha. She went to the nearest store that sold art supplies and bought the best sketch book she could find. Thankfully, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when seeing the sketch book and pencils specifically for her. Pepper observed her, making sure Natasha didn't know she was being watched. She found that Tasha really enjoyed drawing and had a real passion when she was. Her eyes concentrated on the paper. It made Natasha feel more independent, she was doing something for herself, she could express herself through drawings.

Tony was downstairs, still working on his device to help Natasha. The basic idea Tony had was a helmet. Natasha would put the helmet on her head and the helmet sends brain wave signals to Jarvis who expresses what emotion Natasha is feeling, or in a picture. He hadn't decided yet. It sounded stupid when he said it out loud, but, it was for someone he loved. Tony wasn't going to stop unless Natasha got better before he finished it. He needed a really cool name too. Tony wasn't very good at picking names though. Maybe he would ask Pepper to think of a name when he tells her about the project. Tony thought it was best to keep this project to himself until he was sure he could make it. He didn't want to get anyone's hopes up just to let them down.

 _Just push it._ Bruce thought to himself about to push the button to Tony and Pepper's floor on the tower. He hadn't visited Natasha since the whole screaming incident. But he had to, he needed to see if she was happy.

Building up the courage, Bruce pushed the button and the suspense was killing him as it would say Floor 25, Floor 26. Bruce was getting nervous _Stark why did you have to be on the top floor?_ As the elevator door opened Bruce started to sweat. "Hello?" No one was in his line of sight.

Pepper came around the corner wearing not her usual business suit's but instead, jeans a t-shirt with her hair down. "Bruce?" Pepper gestured him towards the living room. As he followed Pepper he saw Natasha at the dining table with pencils everywhere and a big sketch book. She was happily drawing until she heard a new voice enter the room. She turned to see Bruce standing next to Pepper. She stared at him a second and then returned to her drawing.

 _Huh_. Bruce thought to himself. _No screaming_ … He smiled at her and then proceeded to the kitchen. "Coffee?" Pepper asked holding up a jar of coffee.

"No thanks" Bruce leaned on the counter as Pepper made herself Coffee. "So" He said. "How's she doing?" Bruce looked worried, even though Tasha looked happy for the moment, it could change instantly.

"She's been doing pretty well." Bruce kept staring at Natasha. "I'm taking her to physio later" Bruce looked back to Pepper. "To help her learn to walk again."

"That's good, she's probably sick of that wheelchair" Pepper nodded while taking a sip of her coffee. Bruce then didn't look at Natasha but at her drawings. They were incredible, like a professional artist. "Those drawings are amazing" Bruce went and sat himself opposite Natasha. She didn't seem to mind much. Natasha looked up, she had heard what Bruce said and grinned at him going red in the face.

"Yeah they are" Pepper sat next to Bruce observing the woman's artistic talent with a pencil. "I've got to remember to take these when she goes to see her psychiatrist next" Bruce quickly turned to Pepper.

"Psychiatrist? She has a psychiatrist?"

"Yeah, he's really been helping her. We've only had one session with him so far. She's going to see him again tomorrow."

Bruce felt jealous. "You could have come to me for that."

"I know" Said Pepper. "But it needed to be someone she didn't know, so Natasha and I, could feel more comfortable talking about her difficulties at the moment. It had to be private"

"Is he any good?" Bruce understood why Pepper thought it was a good idea, but felt offended that she didn't even consult him about this. He knew all of this sort of stuff.

"From what I've seen so far he seems good." Pepper felt awful, she should have gone to Bruce first. "But he could turn out to be rubbish, you never know…"

After the physio Natasha was worn out. Pepper was so proud though. She had took her first step to recovery today, with help from Pepper and the physio specialist. Pepper could see the look in Natasha's eyes when she took that step. It wasn't going to be easy though. But it was a good starting point. Pepper could see Natasha was tired and decided she should go straight to bed. This gave Pepper some time to see what Tony was doing. She went downstairs and he was tinkering with one of his Iron Man helmets.

"Hey. Natasha's asleep so keep it down a little okay?" Tony raised an eyebrow at Pepper's request.

"Oh, because I'm so loud?" Tony put the helmet down on the table.

"Actually yes you are." He smiled at her. "With all your Black Sabbath, AC-DC, Bon Jovi."

"I haven't had music on today" He was lying. Pepper looked over to his stereo and pushed the eject button.

"Huh, AC-DC. I'm not surprised" Tony put his hands on her waist.

"I couldn't resist" He looked into Peppers eyes. "Just like how I can't resist you" They kissed once again and Tony had to ruin the moment "See, I can be quiet" Pepper slapped him in the arm and then started to fiddle around with some of his tools.

"So, how's your helmet thing coming along?" She smirked at him. He didn't think she knew what he was working on…

"You know about that?"

"Of course I do! You left your sketches in the bathroom. Some of it was even on the toilet paper!"

"Oh," He looked at some of his plans. "Sorry, I get some of my best ideas in there" He laughed making a joke to himself. Pepper didn't find it as funny.

"Ew Tony!"


	7. Come Dine With The Superheroes

**Another chapter for you all! Please review and enjoy.**

Chapter 7: Come Dine with the Superheroes

After a few weeks, Natasha's confidence had boosted and she was much happier. She had a few more sessions with Mr Doyle and he was helping her at the moment to try and understand people's conversations, as she did understand some thing's people said to her. He thought that she should listen to the words and concentrate when someone was trying to talk to her. She was now fine around all the Avengers…Steve in particular. The week before Steve had come over just to see how Natasha was doing as usual and noticed her artwork. He began drawing with her and they had made a special connection that made Steve feel very uncomfortable at times… She would get nervous when he was in the room and her eyes would follow him everywhere.

Natasha got excited when Pepper said that all the Avengers were coming for dinner. This made Pepper smile when she saw Natasha was excited as it showed the sessions with Mr Doyle were getting through to Natasha. There was hope that she was going to become herself again.

"Tony?" Pepper said making her way down the stairs. He was stood there in casual clothes with Guns N Roses playing in the background. He was tinkering with the helmet again and was so into his work he didn't even hear Pepper until she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see Pepper in a black dress. "Tony! You're not ready yet?" Tony stared at Pepper blankly.

"Ready for what?" Pepper just sighed and put her hands on her hips waiting for Tony to figure it out. He looked at his watch, looked at Pepper and then quickly put the helmet down and headed upstairs.

Tony got changed into one of his more casual, but still expensive looking suits and walked into the living room where Natasha was sat on the sofa. She was wearing a blue dress with her hair down. She looked like the usual Natasha she looked beautiful. It reminded Tony of the time when Natasha was pretending to be his assistant, the dress was very similar to the one's she would wear. He went and poured himself a drink and sat next to Tasha. Cloud came and brushed up against Tony's leg and he got chills. He really hated cats. Seeing Tony's reaction however, made Natasha laugh and they continued to laugh until Clint walked in. Natasha was so excited to see him she attempted to run over to him and almost instantly fell over when she stood up. She looked up at Clint to see him with his hands in his pockets. "You okay down there?" Tasha nodded and was helped up by Clint. He supported her weight so she could hug him properly.

The next to arrive was Bruce, and Natasha was excited to see him too but she didn't attempted run to him like with Clint. Bruce had bought a bottle of wine with him for everyone and placed it on the kitchen counter. Bruce stayed in the kitchen and was soon joined by the other Avengers men present.

Natasha was looking around wondering where Pepper was. It made her very uneasy not knowing where Pepper was. He heart started to race, and she felt like she wanted to cry. Everyone else was in the kitchen and she needed to get their attention. But how? She call them over. She tried to signal them, but the men were in some deep conversation about sports cars. She only had two other options. Either she tried to walk/crawl over there or she could throw her shoe at them… She decided to go with option one.

She got herself onto the floor, by grabbing the coffee table as support and started crawling over there. It was kind of tough and Tasha was really freaking out now. At the moment, Pepper was the most important person in her life. She put her hand on the table and accidently knocked a glass off. The sound of the glass smashing alerted Tony and he headed towards the living room seeing that Natasha wasn't where he left her. He looked over to see Natasha having some sort of anxiety attack. He picked her up and put her in the armchair. He kneeled down and looked at her face on. "Are you okay?" She nodded and then Tony began to check her body to see if the glass got on Natasha. "Did any glass get on you?" She shook her head. Clint and Bruce stayed in the kitchen not wanting to overwhelm her. "What were you doing?" Tony said softly but also kind of angry at himself for not paying attention. Tasha thought about the words she wanted to say and she couldn't make a sentence. "P-Pep" Tony's eyes went wide. "P-Pep-er" He started to smiled but Tasha didn't.

"You want Pepper?" Tony understood the girl was distressed, but was so proud she had actually spoke. Natasha nodded and started to become even more on edge. "Let me go get her. You two look after her" Clint and Bruce looked at each other. Tasha just sat their biting her nails.

Pepper was still downstairs, looking at Tony's work. She had found Tony's most recent journal and it had all his ideas in it. She was enjoying just looking through his work. Even though her boyfriend could be immature sometimes, his heart was in the right place. "Pep?" Pepper turned around to see Tony gesturing her towards the stairs. He had ran down so he was out of breath. "Tasha, upstairs now" Pepper ran fast and when she got up their she bent down and before she could get a word in Natasha hugged her. "I think Tasha was worried about you Pep, she was freaking out. She said your name" Pepper turned and looked at Tony.

"What?" Pepper was so confused. Natasha hadn't said one word since her accident and the word she wants to say is Peppers name?

Tony put his hands up "Honestly, I'm telling the truth." Pepper looked at Natasha and hugged her back.

"Your amazing Natasha" Tasha blushed at Pepper's comment. This is when Steve walked into a heartfelt moment having no idea what was going on. "I brought flowers" Tasha went red in the face and looked away from Steve. "Did I just ruin a moment?" He asked.

"Just a little" Said Tony. Pepper stood up sniffling and turned to Steve. She took the flowers into the kitchen.

"So, who's hungry?"


	8. That's How Things Work

**Another chapter for you all! This chapter makes things a little more interesting...Enjoy!**

Chapter 8: That's How Thing's Work

Everyone was sat at the dinner table eating their meal and Steve was chatting away about his time in the war once again. "So when I first saw a mobile phone, I was so confused as we didn't those during the war, and that's why Tony, I don't own an up to date mobile device."

"Great story Steve." Tony ignored the conversation and turned to Pepper. "So Pep, do you think Nat's progression is going well?" Pepper looked at Tasha and smiled.

"She's doing great, better than I thought considering this evenings events." Everyone looked at Natasha who was playing with her food. She looked up when Pepper put her hand on Tasha's shoulder. "She's going to be back to normal in no time"

When the meal was over, Pepper and Clint were chatting in the kitchen while Tony was showing Bruce his record collection. Natasha was at the table drawing once again this time s picture f Tony's Iron Man helmet. She had one of his helmets on the table to take a resemblance from. She didn't notice Steve slip in the seat next to her. He took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. He put it next to her. "I drew this a last week after we were drawing together." Natasha looked at Steve and picked up the paper. She unfolded it to see a hand drawn sketch of her. It was so realistic and Natasha couldn't believe how impressive it was. "I thought I would give it to you" Tasha wrapped her arms around Steve and put her head on his shoulder. "I'm guessing you like it then" She nodded while still having her arms wrapped around him. She then got excited and turned to her sketch book where she took out a picture of Steve as Captain America. This picture like the one Natasha just saw of herself was very detailed. Steve and Natasha were both very talented artists. Natasha put the picture in Steve's hand. "Wow Nat, this is amazing. I guess we both have a picture of each other now." Tasha hugged Steve again and quickly kissed Steve on the cheek. He went bright red and put the picture Tasha had drawn for her in his pocket. Tony entered the room as Steve and Tasha had just kissed. He didn't see the kiss though. "Hey what you two hugging about?" Tony finished his drink and put the glass down on the table. "Still working on my Iron Man helmet?" Natasha smiled and flipped back to the picture she was just working on. "That's one awesome picture Nat" Tony picked up his helmet, checking that the drawing was correctly drawn. "Absolutely perfect" Tony picked up his glass and patted Natasha on the back. "You want a drink Cap?" Steve still looked bright red and was finding it hard to speak. "Oh y-yes I would love one." Tony stopped and observes Steve's face.

"Steve are you okay you don't look well?" Steve coughed thinking he had just saw what happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go get that drink!" Steve stood up and followed Tony. As Tony was pouring them both a drink Steve put his hand in his pocket, just making sure the picture Tasha had drawn was still there.

After everyone had left it was late. Tony had drunk a lot by the time everyone had left and was drunk. "You know Pepper, I really do love you so much." Pepper was ignoring him as she was trying to clean up. "I love you" Tony put his arms around Pepper.

"I know Tony. C'mon go sit down next to Tasha for 10 minutes. I will make you some coffee" Tony sat down on the couch. Natasha was starting to fall asleep and Tony woke her up as he was being loud. "I'm so proud of you Tasha." He put his arms around her and Tasha's eyes flashed open. "You spoke and I think you need something as a reward." Tony took his wallet out of his pocket. "Here's 500 dollars. I want you to spend it on something amazing." Natasha tilted her head and didn't know what to do with the money Tony had just given her. She didn't deserve it. She said one word that wasn't important. She had said many words in her life. She would be as rich as Tony if he gave her money every time she said a word. Pepper entered with the coffee to see Tony snoring and Natasha with money in her hand.

"Where did you get that money Tasha?" Her eyes went wide at Pepper's harsh tone. She pointed to Tony. "Tony!"

"What?" Pepper sighed and took the money out of Tasha's hand.

"You gave Natasha 500 dollars!" Tony didn't see why Pepper was angry.

"She deserves it. She earned it"

"Well yes she deserves a reward from her progress in the last couple of weeks but don't you think we could just buy her something instead? Would you like that more Natasha?" Pepper smiled at Natasha making sure she knew that she wasn't angry. Tasha nodded she would much rather have Pepper get something for her. They both obviously wanted to get her something and Natasha didn't want to refuse. "I already have an idea on what to get you. It's going to be a surprise." Natasha went shy. People didn't usually pay that much attention to her. Every time Natasha met someone new they would constantly ask questions about The Black Widow. But not Pepper, she didn't ask questions and was very private herself. Both women looked at Tony who had once again fallen asleep. "Let's leave him here and go to bed"

Pepper and Natasha had fallen asleep watching a film in Tony and Pepper's bedroom. Her sleep was interrupted by the television. Tony had woken up to see the time was 6AM and that he had a text message. It was from Bruce.

BRUCE BANNER: Check the news in the morning Tony. It's important and you're not going to like it.

Tony turned on the television to see Natasha's face all over the news. Pepper entered and heard the story. 'Natasha Romanoff who is the fierce Black Widow, is apparently out of action after an accident landed her in the hospital 1 month ago. Bystanders of the event say that she didn't look in good condition. No one has seen the Black Widow in action since the accident. Everyone is wondering if her accident has forced her to give up her role as one of the Avengers.' Tony chucked the remote across the room. "Dammit! Everyone knows!" Pepper sat next to Tony still looking at the TV, seeing pictures from the accident made her feel sick.

"We need S.H.E.I.L.D to take this story down now." Tony sighed.

"There's no point. Everyone knows, it's even trending on Twitter! Hashtag Where Is The Widow"

"This is bad Tony! I know we have high security here but if someone wants to get revenge, now would be there best time."

"No one is going to touch her."


	9. Where Can You Go Now?

**Another chapter! Hope you all enjoy!**

Chapter 9: Where Can You Go Now?

Tony got into action and told Bruce, Clint and Steve to come over to discuss their rather open situation with the world. "We can't leave her here" Clint said looking for Natasha. He opened Natasha's bedroom door to see she wasn't there. "Stark where is she!" Clint grabbed Tony's shirt. Tony put his hands up.

"She's still asleep in my room." Clint let go of Tony's shirt.

"Sorry Stark. It's since the media found out last night I've been paranoid."

"Well, all of us are worried, so control yourself." Clint put his hands in his pocket. Tony wasn't joking around for once. "If someone comes for Natasha we need to be there for her. Fighting the people who are trying to take her, not fighting with ourselves." Clint nodded and instantly felt guilty. He underestimated Tony Stark. Everyone knew Tony was a genius but no one took him seriously because of his jokes he makes all the time. "I invited Fury. He should be here any minute"

"Less than a minute" The men turned around to see Fury standing there looking angry as usual. Where's Potts? She might want to hear this"

"She's with Natasha in our room" Tony pointed to the closed door.

"Go get her Stark" Tony proceeded to do so and Pepper came out of the room closing the door behind her.

"I guess you heard then" Pepper said sighing.

"Of course I did Miss Potts."

"So what's the plan?" Tony asked sticking close to Pepper.

"You're going into hiding"

"What!" Pepper and Tony said at the same time.

"Don't worry it's not far. On the other side of New York. No one will be able to find you there."

"But how will we get out?" Tony smiled. He always knew it was a good idea putting in underground tunnels.

"Through the tunnels in the basement" Tony said getting excited.

"You will be leaving in 2 hours. Get yourselves ready." Fury turned around and left without leaving any additional information.

Pepper got herself and Natasha ready quickly. She got Cloud into his cat carrier as quickly as possible without him trying to scratch her and got both of them packed in 45 minutes. Tony however was not ready. He was still working on his helmet, trying to get it finished. There wasn't much he could do in 2 hours so he put some of his tools in a bag and the helmet and brought it upstairs. Tony didn't have very much stuff he needed to take, but one of his iron man suit's and his new work project helmet were necessary for him to take.

The three went down to the tunnel where Fury was waiting for them. The rest of the Avengers were left in charge of the tower which may not be the best idea but it was the only choice they had. The tunnel was dark and cold. Couldn't Tony of fitted it with central heating?

The tunnel took them to inside S.H.I.E.L.D. The only problem was the walk there was a long way. Natasha was asleep in her wheelchair when they got there. The three where then took to a car with the windows blacked out. "Stay safe" Fury said nodding at Tony and Pepper. Natasha was put into the car and was still heavily asleep. "So where are we going" Fury smiled slightly and closed the door of the car.

"Are we going to be safe Tony?" Pepper was shaking. She was scared not just for herself but for Natasha. She had the responsibility of looking after another human being and now possible threats meant Natasha needed extra protection from her enemies. Tony took Pepper's hand.

"Of course we are. We're not going to be too far from the tower anyway." Pepper put her head on Tony's shoulder and was curious to see where they were going.

When they got to the street they were staying on Tony didn't recognise any of the buildings. The buildings were massive but not as big as the ones in central New York. All the houses were connected but looked nice.

Tony helped Natasha out of the car and Pepper got their bags and picked up Cloud in his cat carrier asleep peacefully. No one really recognised them so that was good…

They knocked on the massive door to see a familiar face answer smiling at them. "I thought you got lost on the way here" Pepper looked up and smiled.

"Maria!" Tony didn't know what to say. Maria Hill was always so professional around all of them and now she's stood there in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with a coffee in her hand. "So were staying with you?"

Maria nodded. "Yep, this is my house. Come on in so I can show you around"

As they entered they saw that the house was quite modern and was quite cosy. Maria showed them upstairs to where Tony and Pepper's room was. The room was rather big and was right next to the bathroom. Natasha's room was next door and was around the same size. Maria's room was the biggest by far having its own bathroom too. "Sorry I haven't been able to visit Natasha. I've been really busy and I didn't know until a few days ago."

"It's okay. I'm grateful that you offered your home to us" Pepper hugged Maria and was looking forward to getting to know her more.

That night everyone had settled in well but Pepper couldn't sleep. She was still worried that someone was going to find them. She didn't want anyone to get hurt yet she was excited to see what living with Maria would be like as she barely had to time to get to know anyone with her job making her life busy. Pepper knew she wasn't going to get to sleep so decided to get some fresh air.

She went downstairs to see Maria sat on the couch with her laptop and Cloud asleep next to her. "I see you've made a new friend" Pepper said laughing.

"He's quite a calm cat. I always wanted one but my Mom was allergic so we couldn't have one." Pepper sat down next to Maria.

"When I was younger we had a dog that was so hyperactive and would attack all the furniture." Maria laughed.

"I never had any animals." Maria continued to stroke Cloud.

"So where did he come from? I didn't know you and Tony had a cat"

"Oh he's not mine" Maria looked confused. "He's Natasha's. I found him at her apartment after the accident."

"You've been to Natasha's apartment?" Maria's eyes lit up. She was always curious to see what the famous Black Widows place looked like.

"Yeah. It's smaller than your place." Pepper liked this side of Maria. She seemed like a really interesting person. "It was pretty normal for an assassin's apartment"

"Do you want a coffee? I don't usually go to sleep until after 2" Pepper smiled and nodded. This was going to be a long night…


	10. Three Girls and a Boy

**Finally! Another chapter for you all. I've been so busy that I just haven't had time to update. I hope you are all happy with this chapter. Please review if you have any tips or things you might want to see in later chapters!**

Chapter 10: Three Girls and a Boy

Staying at Maria's was weird and Tony didn't feel very comfortable. First he went from just living with Pepper then to Pepper and Natasha, and now Maria as well! However he was thankful that Maria wasn't too girly. When Tony woke up Pepper was not next to him. He went downstairs to see Pepper sat on the couch with a coffee in her hand. "Didn't sleep well?" Tony said smiling at Pepper. All she did was glare at him and drink her coffee. "What's wrong Pep?" He said pouring himself some.

"I'm worried Tony. How is Natasha going to progress if she can't go outside the house?" Tony went to respond but Pepper kept talking… "What if someone finds us?"

"They're not going to find us. Everything is going to be okay. Maybe we can get her psychiatrist to come here instead?" Pepper sighed and decided to go take a shower.

Tasha liked it here. She recognised Maria and wasn't afraid of her. She hadn't met many other women since the accident, so it was nice. Maria had woken up hours before everyone else and was already dressed. She had only just come out of her bedroom and decided to check on Natasha. When she went in her room Natasha was sat on the floor which alarmed Maria. "Are you okay?" Maria rushed to Natasha's side who just stared at her. "Are you hurt?" Natasha shook her head. She hated being treated like a china doll. Natasha was looking at some photographs. "Where did you find that?" Natasha pointed to under the bed. Maria smiled and decided to look at the pictures with her. "That's from my first day as an agent" Natasha looked through pictures of Maria at various ages during her training. She turned the page and looked at Maria. A tear came down Natasha's cheek. The pictures were of The Avengers. All of them together at a party, Natasha remembered that night being so fun and relaxing. Drinking her favourite beer with her favourite people having a normal conversation where people talked to her normally. Now they saw her as a child. She wasn't though, her brain was mixing some things up for her but she just wanted to be normal. She was being a burden on everyone's lives, especially Pepper's. Pepper used to be confident independent woman, and now she's some sort of paranoid mother. But Natasha was different too. She was a feisty bad-ass who knew how to look after herself and now, she was needy, scared, and she needed someone to look after her. Natasha wished she could say all these things out loud, but she had to settle with it all remaining in her mind. She couldn't control her emotions. "Hey what's wrong?" Maria put her arm around Natasha. "You remember this night don't you?" Maria smirked. "You got drunk and started hitting on the bartender." Natasha smiled. Maria's attempt to cheer Nat up was working. "And then you sung Britney Spears with Clint on the karaoke machine" Tasha started laughing. For a moment she felt like her old self. She was proud that she could understand what people were saying most of the time.

Lunch came around quick, and everyone was getting hungry. Tony was waiting for Maria to make her amazing sandwiches. Tony knew her sandwiches were good, because he stole one out of her lunch once…

"So Pepper" Said Maria eating her sandwich. "When are you going back to work?" Pepper stayed quiet for a second. She wasn't really sure…

"Well…Natasha needs me at moment, so I'm not really sure."

"I could look after her for you." Pepper coughed nearly spitting out her food.

"Oh no, I couldn't do that to you. You're an agent you must have so much to do."

"If it's for Natasha then Fury wouldn't care. He just wants her back to normal"

"I really appreciate that, but you've already given us your house to stay in. I don't want to be disrespectful" Pepper looked down at her food.

Maria smirked. "Can't let go can you?" Pepper frowned. Both Maria and Pepper looked over to Tony and Natasha who were sitting on the floor playing a racing game on the PS3.

"We've formed such a close bond. I don't want to let go"

"She's a grown woman Pepper. She may need you now, but what about when she's healthy again?"

"I know." Pepper laughed. "It's just…It's like she my little sister or my kid. I don't want to ever let go"

"I'm glad you've told me that Pepper. Because, to be honest I've been worried about you since you moved in a couple of days ago."

"Why?"

"Your look so stressed out all the time"

"I find it hard. But I'm helping someone I love" Tony shouted at the TV when Natasha beat him.

"How did I lose?" Natasha giggled as Tony crossed his arms.

In the evening, Maria thought it would be a good idea to let Tony and Pepper have some alone time. So Maria and Natasha went upstairs. "So Pepper told me you said her name a couple of days ago?" Natasha nodded proudly. "Was it hard to say?" Natasha shrugged. "Early this morning Pepper and I were talking about your progress and she said that she's found you a speech therapist!" Natasha's eyes lit up. She would finally be able to talk to the important people in her life again. "But she said you have to wait till next week because the therapist doesn't do house calls usually." Natasha frowned. "You will be talking again in no time!" The two women could hear Tony and Pepper both laughing and were glad that they were able to spend some time alone together. They both really needed it and now that they lived with Maria, Tasha could have a bit more freedom from Pepper which Maria knew she needed as Pepper might not be there all the time. Pepper and Nat were inseparable. Natasha was almost always by her side and Maria knew that Pepper needed to go back to work.


	11. Speculations and Reputations

Chapter 11: Speculations and Reputations

It had been two weeks since they moved into Maria's house. The media was still going crazy about Natasha's whereabouts, but so far they hadn't found her. None of the other Avengers have been able to visit. Since the news broke out that Tasha was out of action, all the Avengers had been followed everywhere they go. Having to go about their normal life thinking nothing was wrong at all.

Tony was sat on the couch with his head between his knees. Pepper came in the room to see this and was confused…Until she looked at the TV. 'Tony Stark another member of the Avengers and wealthy business man, has not been seen out lately. Everyone is questioning if he's injured too or if he's gone undercover, leaving his other superhero pals to fend for themselves.' Pepper sat next to him. "This is getting insane" She said putting her hand on Tony's back. Tony didn't say anything. He was nervous and didn't know what to do. Cloud came and brushed up against Tony's leg and made him jump. "It's a cat Tony…" Pepper sighed and picked up the cat. Cloud was the only one who was actually stress-free in this house...

"I just can't stand hearing all these news stories where people are just speculating and not actually thinking of the safety of Natasha and the rest of us" Pepper turned the TV off.

"Problem solved" She smiled at him. "Like you said. No one is going to find us, we are safe"

"The sooner we get Natasha back to her normal self the better." Tony got up and ran to the basement where he was currently working on his helmet. All the things the news were saying was encouraging him to do more work…

Natasha had been feeling cheerful over the last couple of days. She had another session with Mr Doyle that went exceptionally well. She knew her progress had been great, but she still felt trapped. Even Tony was starting to go crazy. No one was acting like their usual selves. Tony was an Insomniac, Pepper was Paranoid and Maria just wanted to be supportive…

She was sat on the bed watching some bizarre TV show that Tony had put on for her. Cloud was sat in her lap curled up asleep. He really helped Natasha to not feel so lonesome. She thought back to when she found him.

He was a stray that had been wondering the streets for a couple of weeks. She started to feed him just a small amount of food every day and in the end Natasha got attached to him so she kept him. Her current situation made her feel thankful that she kept that little stray.

Tony seemed to have calmed down a bit. But he still feared the worst. A ringing noise made Tony jump. He then saw Maria answer her phone and overheard her conversation. "Yes sir. I will get him for you now" Maria came over to Tony "Fury wants to talk to you." Was all she said before handing him the phone.

"Stark. When you said you were going M.I.A I didn't think you meant falling off the face of the earth."

"Hey, I've already fallen off the face of the earth and trust me, it wasn't fun."

Fury sighed down the phone. "Tony, I'm serious. People are going crazy, you need to make some sort of statement or just let the public see that you are okay."

"But if I do that, then I may be pressured into answering questions about Natasha that I cannot answer honestly enough for the public to like."

"Look, I'm going to tell you something that I shouldn't be telling you." Tony sat back and breathed heavily down the phone. "We have had threats of people trying to come after Natasha. They don't know where she is at the moment but eventually people are going to figure this out. You need to get out there with the rest of Avengers currently available and fight! If you don't, it's going to have serious consequences not just for Natasha, but for all of you. So get out there and protect the people you care about!"

Before Tony could have a word in, Fury ended the call. Maria was stood there leaning on the wall with a cup of coffee. "Geez" She said. "That sounded harsh…"

"Maria, I'm going to need your full support on this, no questions asked." Maria put her coffee down and stood eye to eye with Tony.

"Whatever you need Tony"

"I'm going to make a press statement about what is going on. Not giving many details on Natasha's current situation but…" Tony stopped.

"What is it Tony?"

"I want you to be my back up, at the press statement. If people ask questions I can't answer, I need you to help me with the statement, answer questions whatever I need you to do." Maria nodded being fully supportive of Tony's decision.

"I'd be honoured, especially to help the people I care about" Maria put her hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Well let's get this press statement started. I need people to know about it. Where it is going to be held, who needs to be there and possible questions people might ask"

"Ok! Let's get this going!"

"I don't know how he does that…" Maria smirked.

"What, Fury?"

"Yeah."

"He's one big softie really, just like you. All the tough guys are. They just try and hide their emotions but we all know they are there" Maria picked up her coffee and exited to the kitchen.

It was 7:49PM Tony and Maria were working on his statement and Pepper was trying to help as much as possible not sure if it was the right idea. "Are you sure Tony?" She said looking concerned.

"I have to do this Pepper. Everything will be fine, like you told me earlier today."

"Yeah but I meant in the far future not! This may be a bit drastic…"

"If I leave it then everything is going to get worse. Someone might think I'm dead! There has been threats targeted towards Natasha. We need to deal with them"

Pepper nodded but frowned. "Do what you have to do."


	12. Family Comes First

**Happy New Year everyone! I apologize for my lack of updates over the last couple of months, i've had a lot going on. But I spend quite a bit of time on this chapter so I hope you enjoy! Please review and send me any ideas you have for the story. I love writing this and would love it if i could include some of your ideas!**

Chapter 12: Family Comes First

It took Tony a while to figure out what to say. But with help from Maria and Pepper his statement was finally finished. He hoped it would send the right message…

Fury had already set up where Tony would be giving his statement, and it was on national television…

Tony had to stop by the tower to get one of his best looking suits. Even though this was a tough time he still had to look smart for the cameras.

A few people had noticed him on his way to the tower. Fortunately, they hadn't seen him come out of Maria's house. Maria was already there with Fury, making sure everything would go smoothly.

Once Tony got his suit on he headed to the place himself. There were cameras everywhere, people from several different newspapers and TV stations. People were snapping pictures of Tony the minute he got out of his car.

Pepper stayed with Natasha and tried to make sure she knew nothing about what was going on. If she did it may upset her even more. But Pepper wasn't acting very natural. Tasha was sat down on the sofa watching a movie. She seemed to like watching action movies, which of course surprised no one. Pepper was constantly walking around. Eventually Tasha caught on that something wasn't right and her eyes started to follow Pepper. Natasha wanted to find out what was going on, but she didn't know how. Pepper's eyes were like a hawk, she constantly checked on Tasha to make sure she was okay. There was only two options on how she could find out what was going on. Ask Pepper: Which she couldn't do. Or, look on Pepper's phone. Which she also couldn't do as she didn't know how to use it…

"Stark, how long did you want to take? Everyone's waiting for you" Fury guided Tony to where Maria was.

Maria looked nervous. She gave Tony a small nod and they both made there way up to the podium. Maria stood behind Tony with her hands behind he back. Tony's speech was already placed for him by Maria. "My name is Tony Stark, most of you know me as one of the Avengers. But I am here today to talk to you about one of my closest allies." Tony paused for a moment and looked back to Maria who smiled slightly. It was reassuring for Tony. "Natasha Romanoff, like me is a part of the Avengers. But the Avengers is more than an army or a comfort blanket to make you all feel secure. It's a family. All of them are my family. And after the event that occurred concerning Miss Romanoff I ask you all to be patient. I am asking you all to be patient because she has suffered damage and is not able to fight with the Avengers indefinitely." The press then went wild with small chatter and even more pictures being shot. "Anyone who thinks this is going to weaken the Avengers. Is wrong. Miss Romanoff is a big part of the team but we will still go on fighting, while we wait for her to recover. Any enemy out there, doesn't have a chance." Tony they exited promptly not wanting to answer questions. Maria acted as a bodyguard pushing the press away. One question got asked over and over. 'Where is Natasha Romanoff?'

Pepper felt relieved when she heard the front door open. "Tony! How did it go?" She hugged him tightly trying to contain her nerves as Tasha was asleep in the living room.

"It went well. I sent a mild threat to any enemy who tries to target us and told them very little information about Natasha and the state that she is in. Weren't you watching?" Pepper closed the door slightly so Natasha couldn't hear.

"No, I didn't want her to watch it. It might have made her panic, she is doing so well at the moment I don't want her to freak out and then not be able to make any more progress."

"Pepper, you can't keep things like this from her, the more progress she makes the more she's going to be able to understand what we are talking about."

"I know. But I'm just trying to protect her" Pepper looked like she was going to pass out.

"Pep, I have an idea. Why don't you go relax upstairs while I look after Tasha" Pepper nodded and headed for the stairs. _Tasha shouldn't be too hard to look after_ Tony thought to himself. It was basically the first time he was left alone to look after Tasha and he didn't want it to go wrong. Maria wasn't going to be back for an hour anyways, she went off to do something.

Tony let Tasha sleep. He was still working on his helmet and it was far from done. He turned the TV on and checked the news on several channels. The main headlines being about Natasha. But the news was mainly trying to send a positive message to people.

Tasha had woken up when she heard the doorbell, Tony looked startled. It wasn't Maria, she had a key… Tony headed slowly to front door. Pepper was peering over from the top of the stairs, waiting to see who it was…

He opened the door to see 3 familiar faces. "Special delivery!" Clint said with Chinese food in his hand. Behind him was Bruce and Steve and then behind them, Maria.

"I was wondering where you went" Tony said to Maria.

"Told you I had something to do."

Pepper headed down the stairs when she heard familiar voices. "Well this was unexpected!" Pepper said in the most convincing way possible. She winked at Maria. It had been a plan for weeks to have them all round for dinner. It was a surprise for Natasha mainly, but also for Tony who definitely deserved some fun.

"Decided we needed to get the family together" Maria said to Tony. He smiled and entered the living room to where Natasha's excitement couldn't be contained.


	13. Thoughts Going Around In Your Head

**New chapter for you all! Hope you like it and please review!**

Chapter 13: Thoughts Going Around In Your Head

After Tony made his statement, it became easier to get out of the house. Tony could go work at his lab and have all his toys back instead of sitting in Maria's basement that didn't have any central heating. Natasha was finally able to go to another physio therapy session at the hospital and Clint decided to tag along with Pepper and Maria.

They arrived around lunchtime at the hospital. Clint met them there. The moment Natasha saw Clint she looked down and looked away from him.

"Why won't you look at me Nat?" He said trying to look her in the eyes. But she kept moving her head so he couldn't.

Pepper frowned. "I think she is embarrassed. Usually it's only me or Maria who goes to sessions with her so she isn't used to anyone else being here."

"Do you want me to leave Nat?" She ignored him for a minute but she then looked up and grabbed his arm. She shook her head. Clint and Natasha were so close before her accident, but now she's trying to keep some of her pride. Natasha didn't want Clint to see her like this. But he was here to support her and that was the best he could do.

Pepper watched as the physio therapist worked with Natasha. This was the best session yet by far. She had took a few steps today with the help of the physio therapist. Clint had gone to get coffee and Maria was chatting to Pepper. "She seems to be doing well." Maria said.

"Yeah, she is doing great"

When Clint re-entered the room, Natasha seemed to be distracted. His presence made her feel nervous, like she wasn't doing well enough. Fortunately for Natasha the session was almost over.

Once they were done they had to wait in the physio therapist's office. "Miss Romanoff's progress today has been excellent. I think you can move this forward even more by seeing what she can do on her own."

"What do you mean?" Clint asked.

"She won't be walking again yet, but just let her get a little more movement on the floor so she gets a little bit of freedom. I think it will be good for her."

"We will definitely take your suggestions into account." Pepper said politely. They all got up and wheeled Natasha to the reception where there car was waiting for them… Well, it was meant to be there. But instead Tony stood there with a present in his hand.

Natasha gasped when she saw him. "I've got a present for you Tasha" She went red in the face. He handed the box to her. Tony helped her open it. Inside were many different things. Several karate DVDs, a set of paints and paint brushes, a new collar for Cloud and a framed picture of all of the Avengers and Pepper" Natasha loved all of it. Tony smiled and looked at Pepper.

"T-Tony t-thank y-you" Everyone looked at Natasha. For a moment, not even Natasha had realized she said something. Her eyes then went wide and she got excited.

"You just said my name!" Tony was over excited and it made Tasha laugh. "You said my name Tasha!"

"She also said two other words too" Clint said smirking.

"Yeah but she said my name!"

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Calm down Tony" Pepper bent down to be eye level with Tasha. "I'm so proud of you"

When Pepper thought about it in her head she really sounded like someone's Mother. But Natasha needed this support and everything was going so well at the moment.

"We should celebrate!" Tony said already having is phone out starting to plan something. "I'm going to get you the best cake ever!" Natasha blushed. Tony was so excited with her progress.

"If we are having some sort of mini party Tony, make sure you invite Steve and Bruce." Tony sighed at Peppers request.

"Fine…"

Later that night Natasha was watching one of her new karate DVDs with Clint while the rest of them were in the kitchen. They had all eaten a piece of the cake Tony had got excited about.

"It must be so much easier now that the world knows about Nat's situation" Steve said.

"In some ways it is. But I'm still worried something might happen to her now that everything is out in the open." Pepper said holding Tony's hand and squeezing it tightly.

"Yeah but that won't happen with the big old green over there with it" Bruce ignored Tony's comment.

"So" Bruce said. "Does this mean you're going to move back into the tower now?" Pepper froze, she hadn't thought about that. Maria and Pepper both looked at each other. She and Natasha were both really close to Maria now and even Tony thought more of her now.

"I don't know" Was Pepper's only response.

"Well eventually of course. But we don't know yet" Tony said reassuring Pepper.

"You are welcome here for as long as you want. I love having you all here. You're are all basically my family anyways." Maria smiled.

There was a small silence but Steve broke it. "Wait. Did just call Bruce big old green?" All of them laughed.

"Yes, yes I did" Tony said proudly. Bruce did not look amused.

Clint walked in smirking. "Not having too much fun in here are we?" He was holding a beer and leaning against the door. "I think Natasha wants something to drink but I thought I'd ask you what to give her first"

"Whiskey" Tony blurted out. Jokingly of course.

"Tony!" Pepper made her way over to the fridge. "She likes these smoothies, blackcurrant and blueberries are her favourite"

"Thanks" After Pepper handed him the smoothie he made his way back to the living room. There was no communication barrier between Clint and Tasha even though she couldn't speak, he knew what she wanted. It was nice for someone else to spend time with her.


	14. Nothing Lasts Forever

**I really enjoyed writing this chapter! I hope you all enjoy it too. Thought a little bit of action was needed... Please review and sent me any ideas!**

Chapter 14: Nothing Lasts Forever

It had been a while since Pepper had walked through the Stark Industries doors. She entered proudly. Not stopping to say much to anyone, people were looking at her as if she had been gone for years. Her office hadn't been touched, it looked exactly the same. When Pepper told Tasha she was going back to work she wasn't upset. Tony was going to look after her as were the others. It did feel weird to Pepper coming back to work after such a long time. But she knew it was time to come back. Even if it only was for 3 days a week.

She went round to her desk and noticed that there was a gift. It was neatly wrapped in a small box. She looked at the label and rolled her eyes. It said 'From Tony' it wasn't necessary for him to get a gift. She opened it and found a picture frame. It was a picture of Nat and Pepper. Pepper smiled putting it proudly on her desk. She couldn't deny the fact that Tasha was now always going to be a big part of her life, even when she is healthy again. Tony had took Pepper and Tasha to a fancy restaurant a couple of weeks ago and had snapped a few pictures.

Tony was still working in Maria's basement. But he had done some alterations that Maria didn't seem to mind. It was basically his new workshop. Steve and Maria were upstairs with Tasha. Tony's helmet needed to be tested… He wanted it to work. "Hey Rogers! Come down here a sec!" Steve walked slowly down the stairs suspicious to what Tony wanted. "Can you look at that screen and see if anything is coming up."

"Like what?" Steve questioned.  
"Anything, an image, writing." Tony put the helmet on which was connected to many different wires. This alarmed Steve.  
"Stark is that even safe!"

"Yeah…I think" Tony put his hand on the switch to turn it on "I'm about to turn it on" Tony flicked the switch. "See anything?"

"No not really. Just a bunch on 0s and 1s" Tony grinned.  
"That is exactly what I was looking for" Tony took the helmet off.  
"What were those numbers about?"  
"You wouldn't understand Rogers" Tony said not wanting to explain it to Steve.  
"Well what's it for?"  
"It's for Tasha. I'm trying to make a device so she can communicate with us easily or we can see what she is thinking"  
"Are you sure it safe?" Steve said with a worried look on his face.  
"Well it's not going anywhere near her until it's finished so don't worry about it."

A loud crash was heard from above. Both Steve and Tony ran upstairs as quick as they could. Maria was stood in the kitchen. She was pointing a gun at a man in an army uniform. But she was outnumbered. 3 others had guns. Tony and Steve stood next to her. "I suggest you get out of here before someone gets hurt" Maria tightened her grip on the gun.  
"Give us the assassin and no one gets hurt" They all worked for H.Y.D.R.A.  
"That isn't going to happen" Steve said.

Natasha was in the living room, she knew these people were bad. She needed to hide… Maria had a coat room just next door. Natasha made her way over, but she kept falling. She was trying to be quiet. She felt stupid, hiding somewhere so obvious, but it was the only place she could get to. The door wasn't hard to open. She hid in a pile of coats that were on the floor. The room was small. She curled up in a ball and hoped they wouldn't find her.

"Where is she Stark? Did none of you check to see if she was okay?" Tony got angry and headed for the living room but a large man shoved Tony and put a gun to his head. Usually, he would just use one of his suits, but he couldn't with a gun to his head, it was too risky… "It's too late. This has simply been a distraction to keep you all in here while the rest of my team search the house.

Tony heard a scream. "Don't you dare hurt her!" Steve grabbed the gun from the guy who had it faced at Tony. Tony ran to the living room while Maria and Steve dealt with the other H.Y.D.R.A agents. The front door was open and Natasha was being put into an armoured car. She was screaming. "J.A.R.V.I.S. now!" Different parts of Tony's suit came flying onto him. The car was already moving.

The car was shooting at Tony, and they were not ordinary bullets. "J.A.R.V.I.S, damage report"  
"The weapons being shot at you are trying to shut down your suit sir, and it seems to be working. I would suggest powering down." Tony's flight power shut off. He came crashing to the ground.  
"J.A.R.V.I.S track that car! I need to know where it's going!"

"Stupid suit," Tony said chucking his Iron Man helmet. Steve finally caught up with Tony.  
"What happened?"  
"I lost them. But J.A.R.V.I.S is tracking there whereabouts now"  
"You better come back to the house, Maria is hurt"

Maria's house looked a disaster, broken furniture, smashed glass. Steve and Tony didn't care about the glass though, they ran to Maria's side. "Are you okay?" Tony said. "Steve call Bruce!"  
"I've been shot in the shoulder" Tony picked up Maria  
"You're going to be fine. Steve get Bruce to meet us at the tower." Steve nodded. "I will get the car"

Pepper was already at the tower, she was a mess. Maria was being looked at by Bruce who looked like he was going to turn green any second. Tony was sat with Pepper…  
"I knew I shouldn't have gone back to work!" Peppers couldn't keep herself calm. None of them could.  
"This is not your fault" Tony said. "I should have seen this coming…"  
"What are we going to do?" Pepper asked she was terrified. "What are they going to do to her?"  
"I'm gonna kick there ass." Clint said.  
"We can't do this on our own. If we are going to get Natasha back we need everyone's support. They have probably got the best protection now that they have her" Tony said. Everything was silent while they thought of ideas.  
"We need Thor…"


	15. The Assassin Without A Gun

**And the action continues! I know my updates have been quite frequent this week and I thought you all deserved another one! As usual I hope you enjoy and please review or send me any ideas!**

Chapter 15: The Assassin Without A Gun

Only a few hours had passed and nothing was any better. Tony told Pepper to go upstairs to bed but she wouldn't leave until they knew where Tasha was. Pepper was sat next to Marias bed.  
"Ugh what happened" Maria said. Pepper held her back from trying to sit up.  
"Take it easy" Pepper said. "You've been shot" Maria looked blank for a second, she then remembered what had happened.  
"Oh my god! Where is Natasha, is she okay?" Pepper frowned.  
"No, H.Y.D.R.A have kidnapped her"  
"What! We need to find her now. Before they do anything to her" Maria tried to sit up again.  
"Stop trying to get up. You can't fight like this."  
"I heal fast." Maria got up out of bed. She was holding her shoulder with the bandages. Pepper helped Maria down to Tony's lab.

"Find anything yet?" Maria said. Bruce immediately frowned at Maria  
"You should be resting" He said.  
"No time to rest. We need to find Tasha" Bruce nodded, he wasn't going to win this argument. "So have you found anything?"  
"Can't talk, I've nearly found her" Tony didn't like the interruptions. "Give me a few more hours"

Thor got there not long after and was informed of what was going on. He stayed upstairs with Steve and Clint coming up with plans. Tony came rushing in. "I got it!"  
"You know where Lady Natasha is Man of Iron?" Thor grabbed his hammer.  
"Yes so we better be coming up with a plan!"

"Assassin! Wake up!" Tasha didn't feel right. She felt all dizzy. This wasn't home… Where was she? She opened her eyes. She was surrounded by men with guns. The whole room was spinning. She tried to move but she had restraints on her hands and legs. "I know it's not necessary. It's not like you can possibly get away, but you could still be dangerous." She didn't look dangerous, she looked vulnerable, weak. "What's wrong, scared?" He stepped closer. "We've been waiting for you to wake up. The drugs are to keep you calm, but obviously we haven't give you enough."

When Natasha woke up again she was in a blank room with just a bed and a big metal door that was locked. She was so drugged up she didn't even care.

"So are we all clear on the plan?" Steve said. All of them were ready. "Natasha is being held at H.Y.D. headquarters. It's not going to be easy to get in there." Steve was worried they wouldn't be able to get in.  
"That's why I'm going in wearing this high-tech disguise." Maria said. She put some sort of headset on and pushed a button. "Now I look just like one of those ass holes." She was wearing military gear with H.Y.D.R.A written on it.  
"Maria when you're inside you need to find Tasha. We will find another way in" Tony said.  
"Got it" Maria nodded.  
"Now let's go kick there ass"

For once, Pepper was actually involved in helping save someone. She was riding with Clint. "Pepper If anyone is shooting at us shoot back"  
"Okay, but why can't I just have arrows like you?"  
"Too complicated" Clint was trying to focus on driving.

"I'm in." Said Maria through her earpiece. The place was definitely armed. Guards on every floor. "This might take longer than we think. It's like they know we are here"

Tony was scanning the area. "Maria I'm trying to get her exact whereabouts right now. Just try and act natural"

"How long is that going to take Tony?" Maria stood outside a door. She looked like everyone else, which was good.

"Not long. You could try and find the control room while you wait"

"Got it"

It was tricky to find the control room and when she got there 2 guards were standing outside. She needed to distract them. "Someone is down in storage who shouldn't be there" The guard didn't buy it.  
"Then go and get rid of them"  
Maria started to flirt with them. "I'm sorry, I'm new on the job and the boss said that I should come to you if I had any problems." Maria stepped closer to them. "I would really appreciate it"  
The guards looked at each other. "Fine, but stay here and guard this door." Maria nodded. The two guards went off. That should keep them occupied…  
"I'm in Tony." No one else was in there thankfully.

"Can you crack the system?" Tony said getting ready to enter the building.

"Piece of cake. Nearly done already."

"Okay once that shield is down Maria you go find her. She's on the top floor. Secure the room and I will come find you both"

"Got it. Guys get ready." All of them prepared to enter the building. "Now!"

Natasha heard gun shots, lots of gun shots. The big metal door opened. It was the man who had given her drugs from before. "Remain still, we need to get you out of here before your friends find you." He was going to give her drugs again. She shook her head. This time she had no restraints. She started crying, she was so confused. She wanted Pepper. "Look at yourself now. The famous Black Widow. Left defenseless, like a child." Natasha continued to cry.  
"Don't you dare touch her!" Tony grabbed the guy and shoved him against the wall. "Tasha!" Tony ran over to her. Tasha instantly hugged Tony and didn't let go. "It's okay, you're safe" Tony picked up Natasha and headed out.

She was still crying when they got to the car. "Natasha!" Tony put Natasha down in the back seat next to Pepper. Pepper put her arms around Natasha. Natasha knew she was safe but couldn't control her emotions.

By the time they were back at the tower Natasha had fallen asleep. Tony carried her to bed, he checked if she was hurt. There were a few bruises but nothing serious.

"How is she?" Steve asked.  
"Completely out of it. They gave her some sort of drugs, and they definitely weren't safe drugs" Tony poured himself a drink.  
"I will run some tests on her tomorrow" Bruce said. "But she needs to rest now" Clint smirked.  
"I think Pepper does too" They all looked over to see Pepper asleep on the couch.


	16. Not the New Normal

**Sorry for my absence over the last month or two. Life has just been super busy! But I was able to write this chapter for you guys so I hope you all like it! Please review!**

Chapter 16: Not the New Normal

"Natasha, hope you slept well" Bruce said, as Pepper wheeled Natasha in to have her check-up. She didn't smile, it as if they were back to the beginning when she wouldn't talk to any of them. There was no emotion in her face. She looked frail sat there. Even Pepper was having issues communicating with her.  
"Can Bruce take a look at you? To see if you're okay?" Her eyes moved towards Pepper, she nodded weakly. Bruce and Pepper helped Natasha onto the table. She didn't look like she wanted to co-operate.  
Bruce first checked her body for any bruises. There were a few, one that was very black.  
"I'm not sure what they did to her in there, but whatever they did wasn't good on her body" Bruce pressed on one of the bruises, causing Natasha to flinch and push Bruce's are away.  
"I think we should give her some meds for the swelling. But they should go down within a few days" Pepper nodded.  
"Is there anything else that you have noticed?"  
"Except for her behaviour no. Nothing" Pepper looked at Natasha, so lifeless.  
"I think we are done here for the time being. She seems to have experienced some trauma, which isn't good in the state she is already in."  
"I need to find a way to talk to her, or get through to her. She has completely shut down from the rest of the world."  
"She needs to sleep Pepper that is the best thing for her right now. Natasha still looks exhausted. " Pepper nodded. She was glad there didn't seem to be much damage.

Trying to get Natasha to sleep wasn't the easiest of tasks after what had happened earlier in the week. She wasn't communicating at all but she hated being alone. Natasha barley slept if she was in her room on her own. Tony lifted Natasha into her bed. Pepper pulled the covers onto her. "Tony is going to stay in here with you okay? So you won't be alone" She looked at Pepper, either not processing the information or choosing to ignore what she was saying. Tony sat on the end of her bed.  
"Come on Tasha. Lie down, you need to sleep." Natasha slowly put her head onto the pillow. She didn't look very comfortable. But she closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep after making sure Tony was still there. It was only mid-afternoon, but she needed the rest, even if she did refuse to sleep sometimes.

"We need to know what they did to her in there" Maria said handing Pepper a cup of coffee.  
"Her behaviour has been very odd. Bruce seems to think it is trauma but I think it is something more."  
"What if they tried to make her into a super soldier like Steve?" Maria questioned, already coming up with her own theories.  
Pepper raised an eyebrow "I don't think they did."

Tony had fallen asleep. He and Bruce had been trying to determine what HYDRA wanted with Natasha. But they couldn't find anything. They had stayed up late the night before trying to find something. Tony was so angry, that someone would try and hurt Natasha.

She was back at that place, she could smell it, and she could feel it. The drugs they kept giving her, it was having some effect on her brain. Was this a memory? Or just some lost dream? "How did I get here?" Natasha asked, startled by the sound of her own voice. The men in lab coats were impressed. They were taking notes and someone was shining a light in her eye. "What is happening?" Natasha asked.  
"We've given you a drug, a very dangerous drug. Slowly after gradual doses every day you will be back to normal."  
"I-I don't understand" The doctor laughed.  
"I wouldn't expect you to. You have the mentality of a child Agent Romanoff. You may not even realise it, but you have severe brain damage." He put his hands on her face. "I'm trying to fix you. Make you even better than before." They tied her to the chair. "Now sit back and relax. I'm sorry but you are not allowed to remember this conversation. Your team of Avengers always has a way of finding out things. But Tony Stark can't hack into your brain like a computer…"

"Natasha! Natasha! Wake up!" She opened her eyes to see Tony standing over her like he had just seen a ghost. Pepper, Bruce and Maria were also standing near with similar expressions on their faces. She lifted her head off of the pillow. Natasha was out of breath and seemed to have been crying. What had just happened? "Are you okay?" Tony said holding Natasha. She seemed spooked by all the people. "Were you having a nightmare?" Her brain was so muddled up. The only thing she could do was cry. Tony hugged her tightly. "It's okay. You're safe." Natasha hid herself away from the others by hiding her face in Tony's shoulder.  
"Did that really just happen? I wasn't the only one was I?" Bruce looked at the others for a response.  
"No I heard it too." Maria stated. Tony looked Natasha in the eyes.  
"Honey do you know you were shouting my name in your sleep?" She shook her head. Was the dream she just had actually a memory? It was like the dreams she used to have about the red room. But they weren't dreams, they were nightmares. Things she had experienced. That was the same feeling she was getting from this dream. It felt so real.

"Well at least she responded to Tony when he asked her a question that is definitely a positive thing" Bruce said to Pepper.  
"Yeah but what triggered her to scream. This has never happened before" Pepper said.

"They must have done something more to her. Something nasty" Maria said. Tony was still in Natasha's room. She wasn't sleeping after what they all just saw. So Tony was just sitting with her until she did.  
Bruce took his glasses off and shrugged. "Yeah but what?"


	17. How to Hack Someone's Brain

**New chapter for you all! Hope you all like the little flashback. Please review if you enjoy the story or just want to give me any ideas!**

Chapter 17: How To Hack Someone's Brain

Tony was lying in bed thinking about what had happened a few hours ago. It really freaked him out. Pepper was asleep next to him. She now refuses to go back to work and Tony is kind of glad that she stays home because he isn't very good at looking after Natasha, or himself. This was his life now. Tony really hated to say it because of the situation but Natasha's accident has really brought them all closer together. Especially Maria, Pepper and Natasha. They are inseparable, and it was definitely going to stay that way. The only other time they had all been that comfortable with each other was when the three women got drunk at one of Tony's parties.

 _"You know what I really want" Natasha said loudly with a beer bottle in her hand. "A really nice sandwich" Clint nodded.  
"Sure Nat, we'll get you a sandwich" He put his arm around her to keep her steady.  
"I'm sorry, I'm being rude." She shoved the beer bottle in Clint's face. "Do you want some?" Clint pushed the beer away.  
"No thanks Nat. I need to look after you." She grabbed Clint's arm and looked him in the eyes.  
"I don't need looking after!" She stated, shouting even louder than before.  
"Nat you're drunk! And I don't really want you to go wondering the streets and end up falling over"  
"Fine do what you want" She shoved him away playfully. "I'm going to get another drink!" Tony was stood at the bar amused by what he had just heard. Natasha came and stood next to him.  
"You seem to be having fun" Tony said with a big smirk on his face.  
"Yeah but everyone's a buzz kill. Clint just wants to shut me down!"  
"You know who the life of the party is when they are drunk?" Tony was planning something… "Pepper. You need to help me get Pepper drunk." Natasha looked over to where Pepper was standing. She was talking to Thor and Maria. "Maria's already drinking so I wouldn't worry about her. But if you get Pepper drunk then it will be hilarious, trust me" Tony watched as Natasha went over and passed Pepper a shot. At first it looked like she was going to refuse but Natasha wouldn't take no for an answer. Natasha gave Tony a discrete thumbs up._

"Tony are you okay" Pepper asked half asleep. He smiled at her.  
"Yeah, I was just thinking of the time when you all got drunk." Pepper laughed slightly.  
"That was a great night."

Pepper was awoken to someone shouting her name. It was still dark so she turned on the light and made her way to Natasha's room, where the shouting was coming from. Tony was in a deep sleep snoring away so she wasn't surprised he didn't hear it. Natasha was in the corner of her bed holding her legs. "Pepper!" She shouted multiple times.  
"Natasha are you okay?" Pepper wasn't shouted that she was talking. She was wondering if it would happen again…  
Pepper sat next to her. Natasha hugged her tightly. She didn't look scared just confused. "I-I don't understand" Now that shocked Pepper. She was now speaking in full sentences. Whatever they gave her was obviously helping her get better. But that doesn't mean it's good for her body.  
"What don't you understand?" Pepper watched as she struggled to get her words out...  
"I don't understand." Was all she seemed to be able to say.  
"Don't worry. I'm here, and you're gonna get better. You are already talking a bit as well" She shook her head. Natasha was aware of what those people had done to her. And she knew that what they put into her was bad.  
"Please P-Pepper. Help." Natasha's words were scaring Pepper. She didn't understand what Natasha wanted help with.  
"Come on go back to sleep." Natasha rested her head on Pepper's shoulder. She was shaking and so was Pepper. They were both scared. Natasha was confused about how she can now talk again, and Pepper was scared, for what this thing was doing to her. Is it helping or damaging her even more?

The next morning Tony was down in his lab with Bruce. "So what did you want to show me?" Bruce said yawning. "And why do we have to be here so early?"  
"Sorry." Tony said. "I came up with an idea to find out what HYDRA did to Natasha."  
"Go on" Bruce said intrigued.  
"You know that helmet I've been working on? Well I was making it to help Natasha communicate with the rest of us. And Natasha seems to not be able to tell us what happened in that place even though she can talk a little bit. So I thought we could use it to find out what actually happened. Because I've nearly finished it."  
"Well how would it work?" Bruce picked the helmet up. It was very similar to Tony's Iron Man helmets.  
"We put it on her, and then hopefully I will get these messages on my computer in code." Tony pointed to his computer. "Then, with the software I've made, hopefully it will display the messages and we will be able to see what she wants to say"  
Bruce took his glasses off. "Is it safe?"  
Tony sighed. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? Yes, it's safe!"  
Bruce nodded "Then let's try it"

"Don't be scared." Tony said to Natasha. She was down in the lab sat in a chair. All of Tony's equipment he needed was out. Pepper, Bruce and Steve were present. Just in case something went wrong and to see if it actually did anything. "It isn't going to hurt you." Tony put it on his head to demonstrate. "See?" Natasha looked at Pepper.  
"It's okay it's safe." Pepper stood behind the chair to support Tasha just in case she got scared. Natasha nodded.  
"I'm going to put this on your head okay?" Tony gently placed it on her head. "Now give me a few minutes. I need to do a scan and then we can get started." Natasha was impatient, she was already getting fidgety and playing with her hands. They were all watching her, intrigued to see what was going to happen. Natasha didn't really understand what Tony was doing, but she knew that he wouldn't put her in danger. "It's ready." Tony pulled up a chair opposite her. "Tasha, what did the bad people do too you?" Natasha didn't really know what to do. She understood Tony's question but how could she respond without not making sense? She thought back to when they gave her the drugs. It made her feel dizzy again.  
"Tony, your machine is processing some words on the screen." They all looked over and saw one simple sentence. 'Bad drugs and experiments'


End file.
